Discovery
by Leah Grace
Summary: Junior new reporter Faith Kirkpatrick investigates the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning with the help of roommate Marina Guzier to make a documentary. As an undercover teacher she finds out more then she intended about mutants and herself.
1. Preperations

Preparations.

"Marina! Did you move my planner and notebook? I need to pack!" Faith yelled downstairs to her roommate.

"Hold on! I'm just looking over the final plans for this. Everything has to be completely flawless", Marina glided into the room and took her usual spot on the edge of Faith's bed. "You know the risks if we fail."

"We? This isn't a, we, kind of thing. I'm the one going to this stupid school. I'm the one going undercover for a stupid documentary. All you have to do is edit the video footage when I'm done." Faith spun around from packing her bags and glared at Marina. All she had been doing for the past week was whining about their new report. She had started to become annoyed with her but it was truly hard for anybody to stay mad at a girl like her. Marina was tall, thin with an hourglass shape, had dark features and long wavy hair. Easily, men fell at her feet and worshiped her as they ignored her snobby personality. Faith walked to the other side of the room and began to pack her hair products and makeup. She stopped to check her own looks in the mirror. Like Marina she was tall, taller actually and a bit more thin but didn't have exactly the hourglass figure that made men drool. _Close enough_, she would tell herself. Her hair was long, curly and a nice shade of dark brown. The only thing she really prided herself on was her piercing teal eyes and big lips. They seemed to always get the job done.

"Hey space case, did you even hear anything I just said?" Marina stated blankly. Faith sheepishly giggled and shook her head. Marina sighed dramatically and laid out flat on the bed.

"Look, I get it. You're nervous about going and all but just think about how famous we are going to be! A school just for mutants, never been explored by regular humans and now we'll be the first!"

"There ya go with that whole, we, idea again." Faith interrupted.

"Oh shut up. You were the one who volunteered to go in. Think of it this way, you'll be more remembered then me because you're the one on camera. Now we need to go over something first because I can't go with you to drop you off tomorrow and know you, you'll fuck something up. Keep your real identity a secret. Yes, you can go by Faith Kirkpatrick but not Faith Kirkpatrick the reporter. You are now Faith Kirkpatrick the school therapist. After tonight you're on your own. As far as we know this place could be filled with gut-wrenching, murderous creatures so if you need anything I'm only a phone call away. I'd suggest making friends fast though…just in case they figure out who we are." Marina gets up off the bed and head towards the door. "Also, if you were wondering, I really do have a lot of faith in this project Faith, no pun intended."

"Well gee thanks for the lecture I guess." Faith snapped sarcastically.

"What's with all this hate? I'm just trying to help." Marina looked genuinely upset as she inched closer to the hallway.

I'm sorry. Ever since we took on the project I've had really frequent headaches. I guess it's just starting to really get to me now that it's finally here. I'm just going to finish up and go to sleep. I'll be heading out around 6am because it takes about 3 hours to get there. I really do wish you were coming though." Faith sighed.

"It's going to be fine, don't worry so much. The Xavier Institute won't know what's hit them after this." Marina assured Faith. "Goodnight, I'll see you in the morning! Oh and try taking an advil or something. That should help." Marina shut the door and Faith could hear her steps disappear down the hallway.

Faith shoved the packed bags away from her bed and threw herself in and under the covers. She debated the next few months in her head. _I don't think this is right. All these kids, these teachers, they are people too and they deserve their respect and privacy. Mutants are people too no matter what._ She rolled over and kicked at a blue soft pillow. _On the other hand, I guess people should know how the school works. I mean there are plenty of documentaries about public schooling so there's really no difference. I guess I'm mainly just scared of what they would do to me if they found out who I really am and my intensions. _She rolled on her back and stared up at the spinning ceiling fan._ God damnit, this isn't right. It's not moral. I don't care what Marina says, there are better ways to get to fame then exploiting a fucking school. I can't back out now though, she'd kill me and so would everyone else back at the station. I should just actually become a school therapist there and never come back. _Laughing at the thought of making a new life in the mutant culture she slowly drifted off to sleep.

"_Here we go again. I kinda wanna be more than friends…" _

Faith rolled over and slapped her radio alarm clock off. "Goddamnit, Neon Trees its 6am nobody wants a bite of your heart at this hour." Dragging herself across her room she got her bags together and headed for her car. As she walked by Marina's room she slowly creaked open the door and saw her completely passed out on the bed. _I guess I'll just go…thanks for the goodbye and stuff, best friend. _Her head started pounding as she thought about how the rest of the day was going to go. _I can't fucking get rid of this headache, holy shit. _She loudly barged down the hall and down the stairs hoping to wake Marina up. Downing some more advil she slowly made her way out the front door, making sure to slam her luggage into every possible thing.

"Whatever, what a great way to start this project." Faith said as she threw her luggage into the back of her car. She placed a small video camera onto the dashboard of her car and pushed the record button as she backed out of her driveway and started her journey.

"Hello Exploration Channel! This is your lovely reporter Faith Kirkpatrick on the first day of our new documentary, Mutant Education. With this report you will be getting an in-depth look on a private school just for mutant teenagers. You'll learn about the social, mental, and physical aspects of their lives as I uncover how different or similar they are to us. Should all mutants go to schools like this? Just the dangerous ones? Or did we finish segregation with the civil rights movements? Now take a ride with me as I pretend to be a school therapist to get the real story at The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. Only on the Exploration Channel, we're always the first to explore."

She snapped the camera off and released a long sigh as her headache grew worse. _This is going to be a long drive, and a long few months._


	2. Interview

Interview.

Professor Charles Xavier slowly wheeled his wheel-chair over to look outside the second story window of the Xavier Institute. He had been watching some of the students play a long game of soccer when he noticed a car pulling up and over into the parking lot.

"Jean? I think this is the guest we have been waiting for. Would you like to greet her and bring her up to me?" Professor X called over to Jean Grey who was quietly grading student's papers.

"Of course. Have you said anything at all about her to the others? They are going to questions our reasons for keeping her here. Once they pick apart her secret" She paused and walked over to the window just in time to see Faith clumsily spill her bags out of her car. "That is, if she doesn't give everything away on her own."

"For the past few months we've been observing her I've gained a lot of confidence in this young lady. I don't believe she will disappoint us in the slightest. Faith is the kind of girl that could even restore Erik's…well, faith, in humanity." Professor X rolled away from the window and began pulling out registration papers and made his desk appear more business-like. "Also, don't tell her we know about her true intentions for coming here. I'd like to keep the charade going for a bit. The students will think she is really a teacher and the others, including yourself, will treat her like a college. Do not tell anyone of her identity Jean. If this goes according to plan and Faith follows her morals, this could mean great things for the relationship between regular humans and mutants."

"And if things don't go according to plan?" Jean scoffed.

Professor X laughed and shook his head. "Well she might just forget that she ever came here." He put his pointer and middle finger to his temple and fell back into deep concentration.

_Shit, shit. So awkward. So incredibly awkward. All those kids are looking at me. Oh God they know Im not a mutant. They can smell it! Can they? There all going to kill me. Or eat me. Cannibals! No! No, they are human like me. Just maybe a little cooler. Like look at that kid, he's flying and shit. Oh man this place is so big. I can't. I can't do this. _Thought raced through Faith's mind as she walked up the long driveway to the front door. Kids in the field next to her were playing a game of soccer and using only their powers to hit the ball. The coach was a big, muscular man with long sideburns and messy hair. He was barking commands at a scrawny boy with giant angel wings. Faith let out a nervous laugh and mumbled "Hardass" under her breath. She heard laughter and immediately re-focused her attention to the woman standing in the doorway in front of her. She flipped her red hair back behind her, walked gracefully down the stairs and stuck out her hand for a handshake.

"Hello Faith…oh um, I'm sorry, your last name must have slipped my mind." Jean said.

Faith froze in her spot. She had never made up an alias name. _Shit, quick, something Irish like my own. _"Oh, its Shultz!" _Shultz? That's German. My God at least I'm German. I'm so dumb._

"Well hello Ms. Faith Shultz! We've been expecting you. How was your drive? Pennsylvania is pretty far from here." Jean lied through her teeth as she led Faith into the school.

"It really wasn't that bad but…" Faith stopped at door. She hadn't told anyone that she was coming. How did this woman know her name or where she was from? Jean sensed her nervousness and quickly read her mind to discover that she had slipped up with Faith already. _"Jean? Leave this to me." _Professor X spoke to her through telepathy. Suddenly as Faith stepped back to retreat to her car she hesitated, she had almost forgotten that she had called the day before and had a lovely interview with Jean Grey, one of the head teachers of the school. _"Thank you Professor." _Jean replied, feeling Faith's new calmness.

"But what?" Jean said smiling.

"Oh nothing really..." Faith said scratching her head and looking around puzzled. "I've just been having these headaches since applying here. It's probably just my nerves acting up."

Jean gave Faith the grand tour of the building and the surrounding grounds. They even walked into a few classrooms. Jean offered to get a student to carry her bags to her room but Faith kept them with her. Different cameras and microphones were running in each one. Faith became acquainted with Jean's husband Scott Summers and two fellow teachers Piotr Rasputin (Peter) and Kitty Pryde. She even found out that the hot headed gym teacher she had seen on the soccer field went by Logan Howlett. _So far so good. Nobody has asked about what power I have yet and Jean even calls me a mutant to everyone else. _Faith went on smiling as they continued to Professor X's office.

Jean knocked on the big oak door twice. "Professor? Can we come in? I have Faith Shultz here." They listened for an answer but nothing came. "Professor we're coming in now."

Jean opened the door and they walked in to what Faith thought was a sleeping dean of the school. _Professional. _Smirking to herself she made sure her main camera was still secretly running from a small hole in her purse.

"Ha! Professional indeed! Don't worry, I wasn't sleeping on the job. Just connecting with some old memories. Oh don't look so scared. I'm a telepath. Jean and I both actually." Professor cocked his head up and wheeled over to shake her hand. "I won't be reading your mind any much more, especially not during an interview. That would be just to nerve wracking for such a kind and friendly lady. Please take a seat and Jean would you mind leaving us two alone?"

Faith was stunned and taken back. Nervous that they both could already found out about the documentary she sat down slowly and firmly clasped her hands together.

"Now Faith Shultz…doesn't sound fitting. Lets go with Faith Kirkpatrick, between the two of us I mean. Can't let the others know your real name. They might Google you or something odd."

"…uh…uh okay. Yeah that's fine." Faith stammered.

"You don't have to sit here and explain yourself or give me some sort of an apology for what you were truly sent here to do. I know you had nothing to do with it and you rejected the idea. You understand that mutants and humans are segregated without any direct and clear form of the sorts. You are capable of so many things that a mutant cannot do. I see great things coming from you in the future Faith. I need you here at my school." Professor X calmly wheeled over to the window and sighed. "I've lost a friend in this battle between human and mutant rights. He believed we were about regular humans just because in a sense we are more powerful. But who is to say that force can defeat mind and reason? Reason. Reason and logical thinking is what we need to create harmony. This is why I need you at my school. I want you to think about when you were in the 6th grade. Think hard and be still." Professor X again but his fingers to his temple and Faith was thrown back into the most vivid flashback of her life.

Sunlight beat down on her shoulders and the sweet smell of a friendly neighborhood bonfire filled her nose. Faith was once again standing by her bus stop but this time with Professor X by her side. _"Ah, bus 49 at 3:21. Right on time." _Professors words gliding into her mind should have scared her but nothing was getting past Faith at this point. They watched as two girls stepped off the bus laughing and talking about their day at school and a small group of boys followed. _"Oh that's me! The smallest one! Everyone else was older than me in my neighborhood besides a baby down the street and my younger brother." _In flashbacks Faith could also communicate to the Professor through minds. This way, the flashbacks wouldn't notice them intruding in their memory. Young Faith had hair that was tied back in a short curly ponytail and glasses that constantly needed readjusting. She was dancing around an older girl with blonde hair who had the body of a girl, unlike Faith who was still thin and frail like a little kid. _"Ha gosh. I was so thin. This was a few months after I had gotten over being really sick. Morgan Sanding, I remember her…is this day important Professor? Or is this just you showing me your powers?" _Faith questioned.

"_Don't like seeing Morgan anymore do you? Remember this day? The day you encountered your first mutant?" _Professor X replied.

"Hey Morgan! Show us that thing you did today at recess!" Taunted the biggest of the boys. "You're a nasty mutant. Everyone knows it now. Just show us!

"Leave me alone Russ. I don't know what you're talking about." Morgan hissed back."

Russ ran in front of young Faith and Morgan and grabbed Morgans shoulders, shaking her back and forth. "My dad said mutants are all scum! I think he's right. "

"Leave her alone!" Faith cried as she tried pulling Russ off of Morgan. Jackson, one of the other boys pushed Faith over and began dragging Morgan back into the woods behind the neighborhood.

"Faith! Run home now and don't tell anyone! Just go home!" Morgan yelled at the boys took her out of sight.

"_Professor, please. I don't want to relive the next part. I remember now."_ Faith pleaded with Professor X but he shook his head and they walked into the woods as young Faith ran past with sticks in an attempt to free Morgan. The boys had duct taped Morgans mouth and were holding her arms behind her back. Russ was screaming at obscenities at her, making her feel useless. She hung her head down and appeared to be defeated. The let her go and removed the duct tape, spitting on her as they walked away. Young Faith ran to Morgan and tried to comfort her as best as a 6th grader could.

"Faith, they said I'm dangerous. You should leave. I don't think I'll be able to walk you home from school anymore. My parents said if anyone found out my secret we would move. Don't tell your parents you walked home with a mutant every day." Morgan began to cry into her hands.

"What's so bad about being a mutant? You're just more special because you're like a superhero! You're like from a wonder woman comic! Can you show me your power? I'll stand back if it's dangerous." Morgan took young Faiths hand and led her to a patch in the woods that had scattered dead flowers from the autumn morning frost. Morgan stretched out her right hand above the flowers and made an upward motion. The flowers suddenly stood up, regained color and life in general. Morgan then waved both of her hands in front of her and the forest became alive with color and light. Young Faiths eyes lit up and she ran to pick a flower for herself.

"Morgan this is awesome! It's so beautiful! Why would they call you all those names?"

Morgan wiped her eyes and smiled deeply at young Faith. "I guess some people just can't accept the different qualities that people have. I never thought of my power as dangerous but I still have to hide it. To me, I'm just like every other girl in my grade. Nobody could guess I'm mutant."

"Some people are just blessed a little more!" Young Faith happily exclaimed as present Faith mouthed the words along with her.

"_This isn't the only time things like this have happened to you. You seem to attract mutants. We could revisit a few other memories if you'd like. Billy Anderson? Michele Miller? No? I think it's time to go back too."_ Professor X sucked them out of the flashback and they were again back in his office like time had stood still for them.

"Professor, I don't want to sound rude but what does this all mean to you? I mean, you know why I came here but yet you want to keep me? I have no license or degree to teach or console anyone. My intentions for coming here are purely selfish." Faith picked the Professors mind wondering what he could be thinking.

"Faith, you have more understanding of mutants then some of my fellow colleagues. You see no border between us two besides the one that society stresses. I want you to stay and be the school counselor that you "planned" to be. If at the end of your stay you do choose to produce the documentary then shame on me for thinking as highly as I do of you this very moment. The question of what your power is won't ever come up in conversation unless you do it yourself. I can see to that. Since it is a boarding school we already have a room with you name on it. So please, grace my school and become part of the staff." Professor X wheeled directly in front of her and left his hand in the air, inviting a handshake.

Faith took his hand and sealed the next few months of her stay.


	3. Settling

Settling.

The sun was quickly being covered by the clouds and the wind picked up. Some of the children outside of the Xavier Institute quit their games and headed inside. As Faith left the Professors office she became aware that he had not given her a room inside of the mansion. She quickly turned around and gave the big doors to his office a loud knock. After waiting a minute or so, and getting no answer, she sheepishly looked around and peeked inside. The Professor was gone.

"How could he have snuck past me…" Faith trailed off as she stepped back from the office. She looked down at all of her bags and sighed. _Cool, cool. Guess I'll go find Jean or something. _AsFaith reached for the biggest and heaviest bag another hand shot out and grabbed it first. The hand was large and muscular and was connected to the completely jacked teacher that she had met earlier.

"Let me get that for you. A lady should not have to carry her own luggage, especially with all these willing men around. " Boomed the deep Russian voice from the art teacher, Peter.

Faith couldn't help but stare at his figure. He was muscle from head to toe and had wonderfully striking features. _Oh God, he could snap me in half with a finger. Russian accent? Shit. He's so good looking. _She blushed and regained her pose and reached for another bag. Peter beat her to it and stacked all of her bags on one of his massive arms.

"So let me guess, super strength?" Faith giggled as she made sure the bags were steadily placed on his arm.

Peter laughed and shook his head. "Yes but not just that, let me take you to your room first and then I can show you." He balanced the books back and forth on his arm and moved them up and down to show her that he was capable of holding even more weight. "The Professor wanted me to tell you that he is sorry for not showing you himself but he had some…uh, business to take care of. So I guess, let's go?"

Faith tagged along as Peter lumbered down the halls. As they walked he gave her some more information on the other teachers of the school. Quickly she switched to her hidden jacket camera and switched it on to make sure everything Peter said was caught on film.

"Well we all kind of have nicknames here, not the students, just the teachers. It's mainly for when we figh…I mean train with each other. We train our powers so that way we know them better. Feel free to call us by our real names or nickname. Nobody minds either way. "Peter stopped walking as they came up upon a large window. "See the sky? How suddenly the weather has changed from good to bad? You see the woman with the white hair sitting on the bench? That is Storm. You can just call her Storm instead of her real name, Ororo. She can control and manipulate the weather to her liking." Peter looked a bit worried for a second. "Obviously she is not in the best of…how you say it in English…moods? Yah". They continued their walk to her room and he continued his run down of the other teachers. Dropping back a little behind Peter she pulled out a tiny note pad and began scribbling down names, nicknames and powers associated with them.

"Ah!" Peter's loud voice scared Faith and she clutched her note pad so tight she thought it would rip through her skin. "Here is your room! Lucky number 208. Third floor, 15 rooms, all teachers. My room is 203 if you ever need anything" He said with a wide grin as he tossed her a key and set the bags down onto the floor.

"Thank you so much Peter! I wouldn't have been able to make it this far with all of my stuff." Faith said as she started to unlock her room. She wanted to get inside and make her own first video commentary on the film before she forgot anything that happened today. As she started dragging her bags into her room she heard Peter clear his throat.

"Aren't you forgetting something Ms. Shultz?" His grin turned into a huge smile and as it did his skin starred to turn and flip and mold into what looked like shining steel. He raised his gigantic arms up and his body clanked and screeched with every move. His dynamic facial structure was quickly changed into a metallic form. "Now, if you would like, my nickname is Colossus and this is also what I can do."

Faith's jaw dropped. She had never seen anything like this before. She took a step back and realized that might be insulting to him. _This is magnificent! I hope my camera got a good shot of that…transformation! I hope he's not expecting me to do some sort of mutant power thing now. _Fear quickly shot through her body but was calmed by something she remembered the Professor saying. All the mutants have no doubt that she is like them and nobody would ever think to ask, even if they wanted to. Thanks to the Professor's telepathy powers. Faith slowly walked up close to Colossus and ran her finger down his forearm and to his palm. She could practically see herself in his metallic skin. His large hand grasped hers and she noticed how big he really was. _He must be over 6'5,damn._ Faith just couldn't get over how fascinating his mutation was. Softly, they heard footsteps coming from around the corner and Colossus quickly shot back his hand from Faith. Kitty rounded the corner and looked less than thrilled to see Peter and the new co-worker together.

"Hi Faith!" Kitty said with a, fake as could be, smile as she leaned against Peter. "How do you like everything so far? Just getting to your room?"

"Yeah everything is great! Peter just brought my bags all up for me and…" Faith started but was interrupted as two younger mutants came running by.

"No students in the teachers area!" Kitty yelled after the kids. "Sorry about that. Well I guess we'll just leave you to unpack and stuff! See you at dinner. We all eat together at 6:30 in our little lounge area on this floor."

"Thanks but I'm not so hungry. I might just take a walk or something." She replied as Kitty led Peter down the hallway. He turned around and gave her a little salute and continued his way.

Faith pushed all her bags into the room and closed the door. Her room was much bigger and prettier than expected. The interior was like the rest of the mansion, very dark combinations of wood but light blue floral curtains hung from a window that took up more than half of the longest wall. A small circular blue carpet was spread out and the bed sheets were also shades of blue. She even had her own bathroom and a desk she could work on. For motivation to completely unpack her bags she didn't let herself look at the view from the window until everything was in the giant vintage dresser or in the cabinets. Finally she brought herself to the window and smiled at the view. There was a great big pond with beautiful bushes and trees surrounding it. The mountains were perfectly placed in the distance and the forest was starting to turn shades of red and orange to prepare for the upcoming fall season.

"Like out of a book" She said to herself as she fell back from the window. Quick glances let her know that if she did some of the video now she might be able to grab some food before dinner and take it on her stroll. Placing her camera on the bed she went to the window, took a chair and made herself a little interview spot.

"_Lovely back drop isn't it?" _The voice of the Professor shook her mind and scared her. Almost tipping off of the chair she grabbed onto the inside window sill and regained her balance.

"_Oh. Yes. This room, these view, it's so beautiful Professor. I… I was just…" _Faith hung her head, ashamed that he had caught her.

"_Now don't be upset. Please continue! I was just making sure that blue was still your favorite color and that Peter was of assistance. Don't mind Kitty Pryde, she can get kind of protective of Peter. They have feelings for each other…occasionally. Also, there's no need to call me Professor. You may call me Charles Xavier. Or just Xavier like all the others do. Hopefully I'll see you in the morning before you start your first therapy lessons with the students? Have a good night my dear."_

Faith could feel Xavier slowly creeping out of her mind. It hurt a little, like the headaches. She shook it off and reluctantly turned to her video with little motivation.

"Hello my good people! This is my first day here, at the mutant school. A bit scary but so far so good. I landed the job perfectly and my interview went by with flying colors. They all actually believe I'm a mutant like them! After a long day of awkward first encounters I think I'm headed off to an early bedtime. Goodnight and sleeptight everyone. Enjoy the following clips I shot from today." Faith got up and hit the stop button on her camera and collapsed on her bed. _Shit. That was shit. Marina better be able to edit well. Gotta make it look like a legit interview happened._ She rolled over and wrung her hands together. An instant stress reliever. _I still don't understand why Xavier would keep me here after all that he knows about this project. Maybe they want to do tests on me. Ha! _She sat up and looked out the window. _Peter was such a nice guy. Hot too. They all are such nice people. I just don't want to do this film on them. Why can't they all be mean like Kitty? _ Faith hopped off of the bed and stuck her camera back into one of her pockets. _Time to grab something to eat and take a look at the grounds._

Faith wandered into the bottom floor kitchen where the students grab their meals. She quickly grabbed an apple and a granola bar and made her way outside. The sun was just touching the top of one of the mountains off in the distance. She had about an hour till sunset. The mansion had a few tall towers that loomed in the semi dark sky. Walking farther away from the mansion she could get a full view of the whole place through her camera. After snapping a few pictures she checked them out. There seemed to be a dark spot on a side of the school that the sun was hitting fairly well. She rubbed her camera screen to make sure it wasn't dirt. Then she zoomed in on the spot. As she zoomed the form of a body started shaping.

"What the…" She gasped for she was sure that it was a person. Quickly she shot her head up back to the mansion and aligned her camera up so she could look at both the picture and the school. The person was gone. Slightly nervous about going near that part of the building she turned the other way and decided to take a picture of the pond and of her room from the pond. The wind was defiantly picking up much stronger and she thought about how worried Peter seemed at Storm earlier. Ha! _Maybe he likes her instead of kitty. _She giggled to herself and thought of Kitty angrily yelling at Peter about their relationship. Heading towards the pond a few rain droplets hit Faith on the face. _Better make this quick. _Her pace quickened to a fast walk and she made it to the pond. The pond looked deep, dark and mysterious. The flowers and rose bushes around it made it inviting and she could imagine students taking advantage of mother nature's pool during hot spring days. As she brought her camera up to the view of the window of her room she saw Peter waving at her from the first floor. Faith smiled and waved back while wiping the rain off her of face. It was coming down really hard now and the wind was becoming so bad that her breath had been taken away a few times on her walk over. She backed up a little more so she could have more of the school in her picture and as she did so her back hit against an old tree. Faith leaned against the tree and brought the camera back up again to the window. Again Peter was waving but it seemed more frantically now.

"Damn boy, I'll be inside in a second hold on." She grumbled to herself as she brought the camera up one more time. This time, as she peered through the lens, what she saw left her jaw hanging open. There was a man, if you could even call it a man, sitting on the roof of the mansion right above her bedroom. He had piercing yellow eyes and a long tail that was being thrown about in the wind. She gasped and dropped her camera. As she did so a large thunderclap shook the earth and sky and the tree behind her began to creek and moan with the wind. Quickly she threw her camera into her bag and before she could stand up a louder thunderclap made snapping sounds up the side of the tree. It let out a roar and began to shake. Paralyzed with the thought of the creature above her bedroom, the storm and the tree she sat in fear. Suddenly a whooshing of wind and a loud sound like something was thrown against a wall or dropped onto a floor came from behind her. A funny smell filled Faiths nose and purple smoke engulfed her.

"Be still!" Yelled a voice, heavy with accent, over the wind. Hands wrapped around her chest and she looked down horrified to see that whatever was grabbing her had blue fuzzy skin and only 3 large fingers. She kicked and squirmed but again the thing yelled at her.

"Mein Gott! Be still!"

Faith obeyed and was again engulfed in purple smoke but this time she could feel herself being apart of the smoke. It was quick, and painless but she felt like she was enveloped inside herself. Then suddenly she was inside of school looking up at Peter and the blue person.

"What were you trying to do? Scare the life out of her Kurt? Xavier would have your ass if he saw this. You can not just surprise people like that! Jesus Christ! She would have come inside when she was done what she was doing" Peter was yelling at the blue thing. His words were mixed with Russian which made it hard for Faith to understand if the blue thing was good or bad.

"Do not use the Lords name in vain Peter! I do not care if you are an atheist, just stop! I was trying to help. Did you not see that tree? It would have fallen on her if I had not been there!" The blue thing was defending itself to Peter. Maybe he was good?

"Um…" Faith coughed and instantly both boys were bent down over her. She edged towards Peter a bit. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to get some pictures of the school. I didn't realize how bad the storm was going to get." She stood up and brushed herself off a bit.

"Ah it is okay. I was just worried about your safety. Kurt here had to make a fool of himself and scare you like that." Peter shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. He had turned back into his regular non-metal self. "I'm going to go work on a painting. I need to relax. Nightcrawler, introduce yourself."

Faith watched as Peter walked away and then turned to the blue thing. He was taller than her and an interesting shade of blue. His eyes were yellow just like she had seen on the rooftop. He was intimidating but then he shot her a big smile which calmed her down.

"I'm very sorry for scaring you Faith. Mein name ist Kurt Wagner but in the Munich circus I was the incredible Nightcrawler! You can call me whichever you would like. Um, as you already figured out, I am a teleported. Please forgive me for earlier. I just wanted to help. The tree just looked like it was going to fall any second!" Kurt looked down, he seemed so ashamed.

"No Kurt, don't worry. That was really sweet of you. Thank you so much. It seems everyone already knows me around here but yeah I'm Faith Shultz. The new student therapist." She smiled cheerfully at him and started to reach for a handshake but then she remembered his hands and retreated.

"Ah! Another German! Do you speak any? Oh and might I say, you have a beautiful name. Faith, such a great thing to have" Kurt's smile grew and he seemed very excited about making this new friend.

"Only a little from what I took in college. Yeah my family is pretty religious so that's how I got the name." Faith was growing tired and wanted to go back to her room but she was enjoying the fact that she was answering Kurt's questions honestly. He could tell she wanted to go and rest.

"Sehr gut! Well, this must be a long day for you so I will let you go now. Um, Faith, would you like to talk tomorrow? After the school day is done? I have to teach gym with Logan but I am free after 2 o'clock." Kurt said as he started making his way to his bedroom and Faith on the way to hers.

"Yeah sure! Sounds good to me! Meet me in the lounge?" Faith was already half in her doorway now and she could see Kurt was only 3 doors up from her.

"Ja! That would be very nice! See you then!" He did a small little happy dance and closed the door to his room.

Faith flopped again on her bed and as she did she heard the sound of thunder and a loud snapping and cracking noise. She jumped up and ran to the window in time just to see the old tree that Kurt had saved her from fall.


End file.
